It's Kinda Hard
by Swagger1354
Summary: Fairy Tail AU. In the school called Fairy Tail Academy, Lucy Heartifillia is waiting outside to confess her feelings to the one and only Natsu Dragneel, even when this was the first time Lucy met him. Yet Natsu doesn't even have a single clue what she is talking about. Well, the only thing Lucy can do is take one step at a time. Nalu story.
1. Try Hard Lucy

**Chapter 1**

Authors' Notes: Okay guys, this is my first ever fanfic so I hope you enjoy it! Thank you for reading!

©Hiro Mashima's characters! It's all his.

* * *

Spring has arrived. The weather as pleasant as always as the sakura petals were dancing in the air and approaching the grounds of Fairy Tail Academy, swiftly and very gracefully.

Fairy Tail Academy, it was just like any other school but only more laid-back and with a bad reputation because of some of the few students who were able to create a chaos and throw normality out of the window. But it was a good school with efficient education and it was only one of the few schools who offered lots of activities throughout the school year.

And here was Lucy Heartifilia in the field, nervousness taking over her yet very bravely waiting for the person she was going to show her true self and desires. "_There is still three minutes left till the appointed time I asked him to come out" _thought Lucy while pushing the door and racing in front of the mirror in the washroom.

_"Ok you just have a few more minutes till he arrives there" _She told herself.

While standing in front of the mirror, Lucy was very pleased with what she was looking at. Her blond hair was in a high pony tail with her bangs falling loose in the front, she made sure she was wearing the proper Fairy Tail Academy uniform, the cream colored sleeveless sweater on top of her white t-shirt and making sure her red bow would fall on top of everything, which she had planned for so long. She patted her gray skirt which was only till thigh length, making sure there were no dirt visible.

She wanted everything to be perfect. One time, only one moment.

She walked back to the meeting point. She noticed that he wasn't there yet, checked her watched and then looked for the awaited person. _He must be held up in something. _ She looked around. She was waiting in the garden right next to the academy and a few meters away from the school pool. It was beautiful there and it was spring which intensified it. She crouched down to her knees and softly touched the yellow petals of the dandelions, it was so open and fresh. Lucy imagined maybe someday she would also be free however couldn't stop her heart from sinking, _"That's impossible, he'd never leave me"_ she thought sourly.

"WHAHAHAHAH" she heard someone shout, interrupting her train of thought.

"Come back you bastard!" another voice screamed

"NEVER!"

Lucy stood up from gazing at the flowers to look at the sources of the voices. She then realized it was, _him, _Natsu Dragneel storming straight at her direction while being chased by his black haired friend, who regularly fought with him as per the rumors, Gray Fullbuster who was still very far away. _He finally came. _ She smiled but then started panicking as he came closer to her, trying to make herself look good even without the mirror. She noticed that he was holding some sort of cloth in his right hand, waving it around, while looking behind his shoulders to the direction of Gray and laughing mischievously.

"Give back my freaking underwear you idiot!" Gray screamed. Wait, did she hear that correctly? _Un-underwear? Does that mean he's nake- _Lucy then attempted to cover her eyes before she would regret watching the scene in the near future. But her hands weren't as fast as her eyes as she detected his privet area, yet still covered her eyes from embarrassment.

"Kaaayyyyy!" she squealed

Then suddenly she let out an "omf" as she was pushed down by something towards the ground. She didn't see what it was that brought her to that position because of her eyes which were still covered. She felt strong arms around her waist and recognized a face right under her breasts as she felt hot breath against her skin. Her face became red in response. _Oh my god! Who is this! This is so embarrassing. _Then the arms left her waist and the head lifted itself from her making Lucy let out a sigh out of relief.

"Dammit he will catch up to me" one said what sounded like Natsu's voice.

She then peeked between her fingers and saw the pink-haired teenage look around cautiously. His body was still on top of her but didn't give much weight since he had his arms to support him. He then looked down to Lucy and stared at her for a while before standing up right._ Holy mother of god! It was him?! H-he was hugging me! _Lucy's brain was spinning as it was just too much for her to even have him so near. She was about to faint before a firm hand grabbed her arms and pulled her straight to stand properly without any effort.

"Uh sorry about that but I'm in a real hurry" he laughed

"U-uh" she could barely utter a word. It was too soon for her! She had no time to prepare. _What happened to the 'perfect confession'?_

"Yeah ok bye" he began to hurry off and stopped his tracks when Lucy tugged his shirt. "Wa-wait" _don't let him go now!_

"Yeah?"

"Um I think I left a note in the in your locker to meet me up at this place to tell you something important."

"Oh? That was you?" Lucy nodded her head "Oh, I thought someone was challenging to a fight but I was too tired to go today so I thought I'd ignore it" Lucy could just do nothing but feel her anger build up inside as he spoke. _Why would someone do that?! _She exclaimed in her head.

"Well, so you want a fight? Okay! Let's make it quick before he comes. Bring it on!" he called while pumping his fist in his hand.

"No that's no-"

"Ah! There you are! Get here you!" they saw Gray run towards them, finally wearing some sports tracks only shirtless to which Lucy could only sigh _That's an improvement, rather than being butt naked _she shivered as she recalled what had scarred her pure mind.

Natsu looked back and forth between Lucy and Gray. "Come on" he said not waiting for her response as he just he grabbed her wrist, pulled her and started running into the building. They ran past many occupied classrooms which was found out by Natsu always interrupting the lectures and telling them to just ignore them and continue. The chase was tiring Lucy out, she couldn't help but huff and breath heavily yet the fact that she was with Natsu was thrilling enough.

They then reached the nurse's office. It was her first visit here even though she already knew who the nurse was. She looked around her, noticing the 3 beds laid out and the medicines stacked in the shelves. She began looking for the nurse, Porlyusica, who she didn't find in the end. But she did see the girl in the desks working instead of Porlyusica, she noticed a young girl, maybe from middle school, with long dark blue hair reaching all the way till her waist, unlike Levy who had light blue.

"Hey Wendy!" Natsu greeted.

"Oh! Hello Natsu-san and…" she drifted off while looking at me. Lucy opened her mouth to answer the young girl but was interrupted by Natsu very quickly as he said "Can we hide here? Gray is pretty pissed off about me taking away his underwear and now he's chasing me!" he explained with some humor.

"Oh ok yeah sure but be sure to leave before Porlyusica coms back, or else she'll drive not only you guys out but also kick me out!" soundling like this wasn't the first time this happened.

"Sure sure no worries!"

She smiled at Natsu and shifted her gaze to Lucy. They nodded to each other without making an introduction or conversation. Natsu walked to the window looking weather Gray was anywhere nearby. Then he looked back at Lucy and observed her to which Lucy couldn't help but fiddle around since she became the center of his attention.

"So, when do we fight?" he suddenly questioned

"It not about a fight or anything…I called you out for another reason." She told

"Eh? And what is that?"

She glanced at Wendy's direction and could see that her eyes were on her work but her ears were very attentive to their conversation. _A confession. _She couldn't say that now! Not while someone else is present in the room.

"Um..I don't feel comfortable talking about it here…" she stuggled

"Why not?" he straight forwardly asked, which made Lucy surprised.

"Um..it a-a confession" she whispered

"A what now?" it didn't seem that her voice was as loud as she thought.

She balled her fists and keeping them firm on her both sides _"__so what if someone's here? This is the only freaking chance"_ she complained ." "A confession" she spoke louder. Wendy brought her hands infront of her mouth, giving a 'awww' face while blushing and Natsu who stood infront of her just gave a clueless face.

"Huh? About what?"

Lucy could literary feel her jaw touching her floor as she heard him. How could he not know? Isn't he a normal teenager? She couldn't believe that someone couldn't understand her when she says 'confession'! "_Even a middle schooler could understand what I meant!" _she exclaimed. She heard Wendy giggle in her desk which confirmed that she was eavesdropping.

"About my feelings"

"Feelings? You wanna fight now?" _what? How did he come to that?!_

"No! Stupid! She is asking you out!" Wendy suddenly spoke up. Lucy turned her head towards the girl and gave her a thankful expression and she smiled giddily in returned.

"Yeah?" he looked at Wendy and then looked back at Lucy. She silently nodded. He just scratched his head and said "Why do you need me to go with you? I mean we were there outside and how is this anything to do with feelings". Lucy wanted to cry! This is becoming too hard for her, explaining romance is not only hard work but also embarrassing mainly when the person is her crush.

"Anyways, do I know you?" he asked

"Uh. Not personally but we've met before" he looked at her to explain further. "Yo-you saved me from the time when I almost got tricked by some guy"

"Eh?" Natsu looked her he with a confused face.

"Yea-" Lucy again got interrupted.

"Ha! Finally found you! Give it back you flame brain!" Gray suddenly shouted. Natsu spun his head towards the door and shot a look to Wendy "I told you to warn me when he comes!"

"I-I didn't notice him myself!" she cried.

Gray ran full speed at Natsu before Natsu positioned himself to a fighting stanza _"__why would he do that?" _she screamed internally. When they collided, a huge wave of wind rushed to all directions which was caused by their impact. After the dust had cleared out she saw Natsu's face stuffed with ice and Gray's face stuffed with tobacco sauce. _"__WHAT THE HELL!"_ Lucy wanted to shout but just stood there and looked dumb folded. She couldn't believe the scene in front of her. _Is this how they fight?_

"Eat this you shit head!" coughed Natsu

"Let's see how you survive this!" Gray spat.

They kept forcing their respective 'weapons' into each other's mouths. As they continued to do so, she looked towards blue haired girl and was about to ask weather this is something that happens regularly but stopped herself as she saw her calling someone on the phone. After her call ended, she stared at me and smiled "It's alright, help will come in a moment." She was confused by what she meant by that.

Lucy then heard fast pacing getting louder and louder outside the nurse's office, and then the next second saw the red haired president standing near the entrance with her hands folded. She was wearing the formal uniform with the red blazer with the gray skirt, she looked very smart and responsible that way. Lucy wanted to greet her with nice smile and try to finally get to know the famous and gorgeous president Erza Scarlet, but was taken aback when she sensed the atmosphere around her. She had a very stern look which was only directed to the two guys attacking each other with food items.

"Erza!" the girl known as Wendy finally called

"E-erza?" both stuttered in union and slowly rotated their face to the way where they could feel the anger of the female.

"I thought I told you to get along." She said slowly yet in a threatening manner. Suddenly both of them put their hands around each other's necks and started shaking hands. "of-f course we are!" they both chanted, this not only startled Lucy but also amazed her by how much power Erza had of these two teenage boys. She then gave both of them some bashing where Lucy could only watch the scene move forward speechlessly. Although in many eyes it looked like two guys getting beaten up, for her it looked more like friends spending some time together. She was going to ask the young nurse helped to do something but was surprised that she just continued her work, ignoring the three like it was something totally normal.

"The both of you are going to come to the student council. Right now" Erza ordered while dragging them off out of the room. When Lucy rushed out to the door, stopped and saw what was happening in the corridor she could see that the two of them were trying to struggle out of her grip around their shirt collar but it was just a useless effort. Gray finally gave in muttering something like 'let's just get it over with' while Natsu was still trying his best. Lucy saw him get dragged off and sadly thought "_There goes my chance". _She then saw Natsu stare at her for a second in deep though, so she lifted her hand and waved good bye with a forced smile.

"Wait Erza!" Natsu yelled in a sudden serious tone. Erza stopped her tracks and looked back down at Natsu waiting for him to continue. "Um, that blond chick right there" he pointed at Lucy for Erza to see "yeah I think she has something very important to tell me"

Erza then glanced at Lucy questionably while she saw Natsu trying to make her support his statement. "Oh yeah! I do!" she said.

"May I ask what?" Erza's question startled Lucy. Was she supposed to tell her? In front of all these people in the corridor? Lucy was getting very nervous and looked around for _anybody _to help her. When she finally looked at Natsu, he seemed to give her a encouraging smile which didn't make sense because he didn't understand why she was so flustered but made her heart calm down thinking that he is supporting her. She then walked towards Erza and taking her courage by whispering her real reason of talking to Natsu. Erza then watched Lucy's face while blushing and started to stutter. "_Isn't much of a strong point is it?"_She thought to herself while enjoying Erza's reaction.

"O-o-kay..I mean yeah sure..take him if you want!" she stammered and loosened her grip on Natsu's shirt collar. Natsu jumped up to stand straight, gave a mocking face to Gray which seemed to annoy him a lot and then started to walk towards Lucy. Erza then started to walk away while Gray had a face saying 'unbelievable!'.

"Also Lucy!" she called out without turning. _How does she know my name?_

"Yes?"

She then turned her head and smiled "Good Luck" to which Lucy smiled back.

"Wow" Natsu looking back at Erza "What did you tell her to get her to leave me alone" Lucy also then looked at the same direction and replied "Nothing much". Natsu looked like he was going to ask on but instead just looked her in amazement.

Then Natsu seemed to remember something "So" he said "what was it you were going to talk about again?"

"Oh, do you mind if we go outside in the garden?"

Natsu brought his hands behind his head and grinned "Sure why not?"

* * *

AN: Going to upload the next chapter pretty soon!

PS: I edited here and there but it doesn't change the story line that much

Next time:

**Always Another Year**


	2. Always Another Year

**Chapter 2**

"Oh I didn't catch your name properly!" he pointed out.

"O-oh, um my name is Lucy Heatifillia" she stuttered nervously.

"Luigi? What a funny name" Natsu exlaimed exclaimed.

"No, no it is Lucy" she corrected

"Yeah that's what I said! Luigi!"

"No, um it is Lucy, it is spelt L-U-C-Y" trying to contain herself. "_Don't embarrass yourself in the first meeting!" _she reminded herself

"I don't get it, it's the same thing"

"IT'S LUCY!" finally bursting out.

"Woah calm down!" he laughed while raising his hands up in defense "I was just kiddin' around! I got it. Lucy! No need to get all nervous around me! I was just trying to ease it up!" he laughed.

"Oh." She looked down at her shoes. "_He was worrying about me." _She thought. "Thank you" she smiled brightly.

"Hm, Lucy Heartifillia eh? Well, nice to meet you I'm Natsu Drageneel"

_"I already knew your name"_ She sighed

"You seem like an interesting person. I mean you got through _Erza_! Although I don't know what it means to "go out"" he said while gesturing the quotes "And even though we are already outside in the garden the second time, I'll try to understand it and tell you what I think of it." He smiled with a confused face.

Lucy returned the gesture by smiling back, not only because of politeness but also because she was overjoyed by the fact that he is considering her, okay scratch that, he was trying hard to understand what it means to date when he didn't have the slightest clue (even when he was a high schooler). But, come on, just let this girl with one-sided feelings have some hope at least!

"But till then let's try to start off by being friends! Even though you are really weird, you seem very nice and fun." He said.

Lucy suddenly felt a pang of disappointment and pain as she heard the word "friend", _great! I've been friend zoned._ She sadly smiled at that thought. She thought she would get a straight answer today after gathering up all her courage to confess, even if it were a rejection she would be sad for the first few days or weeks or probably months but she knew she would get over it sooner or later.

But now it'll be harder.

"I mean you were the one who convinced Erza to let me off this time! This didn't happen in years!" he laughed, then he thought again "Wait, I think it never happened!" he exclaimed, looking amazed at Lucy. "You made the impossible possible!" they looked at each other and started to laugh. "Well anyways nice to meet you!" he encouragingly stretched out his hand for a handshake.

_"Well, at least we can start somewhere" _she thought while wiping her tears of laughter tried to be optimistic even when she was still dissatisfied. Yet in the end she was still happy that she had a chance to get to know him better, than just stare at him in the hallway always fighting and hanging around with his friends.

"You alright?" Natsu interrupted while lowering his hands down, realizing her change in mood.

"Oh" she laughed awkwardly."Yeah I am! No worries!" she exclaimed, returning to reality.

He raised one of him eye brows and stared at her suspiciously for a while. They remained in silence for a while.

"You're pretty damn weird ya know?" he said.

Lucy blushed at the comment and thought _well, there goes my first impression_. "No I am not! And stop calling me that!" trying to fight back.

He grinned back widely. "_Holy crap, he is so damn cute right now!". _He raised his hands back up and asked "So what do you say?"

"Huh?"

"Friends or no friends?"

"OH! FRIENDS OF COURSE" Lucy called out. Then she realized that her volume was pretty high after peaking at his shocked reaction.

"Oh, I mean" cough "Yeah, sure, I mean like I'm cool with it as long as you are" she murmured by trying to act cool.

Surprisingly he caught on to what she said and replied "Awesome!"

Then she looked at Natsu and noticed that he still had his hands raised up for a handshake, then she looked back at his face which looked like he was expecting something. She then nervously brought out her hand and slowly got into his grip.

At first there was some sort of spark as the two skins touched each other and Lucy was sure that she wasn't the only one who felt it but knew that Natsu wouldn't understand how unique it was for her. Lucy couldn't help but feel very excited and couldn't stop her heart to pound at very fast rate. Natsu's hands felt very nice, firm and strong. She hasn't felt any safer before up until now and she had such an unimaginable urge to just jump on him and feel protected in his arms. She restrained herself from doing anything to make him feel uncomfortable, so she just pulled her hand back.

She then touched her hand with the free one and felt very special as she brought them close to her chests, she had some slight tint of pink on her cheeks and couldn't stop grinning. It was just like the first time she met him. A miracle.

Realizing how quiet it became around her, she looked back up and detected that Natsu's face was full of confusion. He just stood there silently and dumb folded, still looking at his hand, which was strange since she heard that Natsu was known to be very loud and always forced to be discreet even when it was useless effort. Only president Erza could pull something like that off, not Lucy, not someone who he just met for the first time.

Lucy didn't want to interrupt him since it looked like there was a lot going through his mind, so she just took the chance to get closer look at him. She always thought that his hair was only pink, but now that she was standing face to face and after a lot of observation, she concluded that it was salmon. It looked soft and silky and all rustled up making her want to just brush her hand through those locks. She gripped her hand to hold herself back. He had muscles but not as bulked as those wrestlers in TV programs. "_Thank god!" _she sighed. And his onyx eyes_, "oh god those eyes"_, were so brave as always and sometimes even idiotic which she found rather cute were now blinking making him come back to his normal self.

"Oh ah" he muttered as raised his hand up to his head and ran it through his hair. He smiled to himself. Which for some reason also made her smile at him.

Suddenly Lucy heard the school bell ring, indicating the end of school and start of summer holidays. Lucy looked at the ground sadly, hiding her face from the person opposite to her. "_Wow, isn't that just great! Two months till I see him again when we just became friends today! Fuck!" _She cursed to herself.

"Well, that's the last bell" he said making Lucy raise her head.

"Ha, yeah" she replied half-heartedly.

He tucked his hands into his pocket and smiled "Holidays are going to start so we'll not meet that often but if I see you on the streets or the city or anywhere, I'll surely come over to say hi!"

"Yeah sure! And I'll not forget to greet you in the hallways when we come back to school" she smiled happily hoping she didn't become too comfortable with the newly found friendship.

"Well, duh! That's what friends are for!" he grinned widely.

They smiled at one another for a while. She then noticed that her mobile just got a text, so she picked it up and read that Virgo was ready to pick her up from school.

She looked at Natsu apologetically "I'm sorry but I have to go right now"

"Oh okay, well it was nice to meet you again and I'll see you later then"

"Yeah"

Lucy was the first one to turn around and walked towards her classroom. After some distance, she looked back at his body climbing up the building to through his classroom window.

_"Wai-wait what the- he's climbing!?" s_he stared in awe and could swear that her jaws were touching the ground right now. Again. "Ha! And calling me weird!" telling herself out loud. It seemed Natsu could hear her all the way from there when he turned his head around to her direction, smirking. Lucy, in response, tensed up, deciding what to do and ended up awkwardly waving him goodbye. When he reached the window, he laughed "You still are!" and waved back. Lucy wanted to just hit his head, if she could but just gave a tiring sigh and started to walk off.

She went to her classroom to get her bag and headed toward the gate. While walking she heard a squeaking voice calling out her name, when she turned around she saw a little girl with light blue hair approach her.

"Levy!" she called out. As Levy reached her, she was carrying a whole load of books in her arms. Her curly hair today was tied up and she still had her reading glasses on which showed that she was reading just before going back home.

"Hey!" she jumped happily in front of her.

"Oh do you need help?"

"Yeah! Thank you!" she cried with relief.

Lucy took in half the amount of books in her hand and observed that these were only novels from the library. Then looked back at Levy, and realized that there were two men missing. "_Hm, that's weird."_

"Why are you carrying the books alone?" she asked

"Oh, yeah, well I was heading home together with Jet and Droy but then I just remembered that I didn't read any of the new books the school ordered for the library. So, I told them I'm going back to school to get them, even though they insisted on coming with, I went alone. I mean whats the use of them coming with when I just had to bring books." She explained.

As Levy went on with her explanation, Lucy noticed Natsu walking and laughing along with a group of his friends. It seemed like he just told them a joke while making a really funny face. Then somehow there broke out a fight between him and a black hair guy who became shirtless right after Lucy blinked. "_Wow, he must be having some sort of talent or just some instinct to pull off something like that."_ she blinked againThey kept cursing each other and making trouble to which the other people just laughed at but a red hair woman came in between and gave them both some bashing. "_Way to go! Student Council President Erza!"_ Lucy giggled.

"Yeah now I really regret telling them to go home, but I'm really happy you are here right now-" she stopped abruptly and saw that Lucy wasn't listening to her, Levy then followed at the direction Lucy was watching and saw a group of students walking back home, then started giggling.

"So anyways!" Levy coughed, making Lucy turn back to her "How did it go?"

Lucy wanted to ask what, then saw Levy's teasing smile and knew what she meant by that.

"Oh" she paused "Not that well, I think I got rejected."

"What do you mean "think"?" she asked.

Lucy then explained everything to her; him coming late, Gray chasing Natsu, Natsu taking her with him to hide , him not understanding what her confession was about, getting support from Erza, becoming friend zoned which indirectly meant rejection to her but meant meeting him a whole lot more and getting closer to him. Levy listened all the way quietly and not interrupting at any point. She then gave an apologetic smile when Lucy ended her story.

"He's as dense as before but still wanting to become friends" she said, sounding nostalgic "But oh man, I'm so sorry" she said

"Oh it's alright"

"But, look at the bright side! I mean he said that you "seem interesting and fun" look? Doesn't that sound promising?" she said optimistically.

"Yeah, you are right" she smile. She was really happy that she had a friend like Levy. Always understanding her and helping her. Like reading and always cheering for everything Lucy chooses, like; her book, her confession and her decision on maybe getting out of that lonely home only with her and her father and finding a nice place to live.

"So, do you want to go over and talk to him?" she insisted

"Oh, no I don't want to interfere on his times with his friends before holidays." She replied

"What interfere?! I knew Natsu and all of them since childhood! I mean we just are in different classes, so we haven't talk for a while, sooo I can catch up with them and also squeeze you in so that you can spend more time with him" she suggested.

"Levy, I'm really happy you thought things through but I gotta pass this. I have to go home anyways"

"Oh okay, then can you and Virgo just drop me and these books at my house? I can't walk all the way alone" she asked

"Do you even have to ask?! I'm sure Virgo wouldn't mind at all."

"Thank you!"

They reached the main gates and saw Virgo standing patiently in front of the car. Lucy then waved from her position to show that she is coming and Virgo could enter the car until she reaches. They both opened the car doors at the same time and each sat on the different sides while the stacks of books balanced in the middle.

"Virgo, do you mind dropping Levy at her dorms?"

Before answering she just blankly stared at Lucy silently with her usual emotionless face and then says "Of course not, hime"

"Thank you, Virgo!" Levy smiled.

Virgo then started to start the engines of the car while Levy started to take one of the books from the top of the stack to which Lucy could only giggle at. She then turned towards the windows and stared out of her window. She then noticed Natsu go pass and only thought "_Just look at me for the moment, please let me have that_."

Suddenly Natsu turned his head towards the car as if he knew what was in her mind, put his face close to the glass and stared curiously into the window, while for Lucy their faces were far too close before she could for comfort, if the glass wasn't there she would have pass out of blushing so much. For a while the two had some direct eye contact to which Lucy wanted to turn away but she just kept looking and smiled. He noticed it was Lucy so her waved goodbye and walked off with him friends.

"Oh. My. God!" Levy suddenly exclaimed.

"Wha-what, and weren't you just reading that book right now?" Lucy startled while trying to stop her face from becoming red, which didn't work.

"Finished it already but forget about that! He just waved at you! I mean like- you never were this close to him! I'm so proud Lucy!" she nudged Lucy's arms "maybe the chance of the two of you getting together _wouldn't_ take as long as I thought it would!"

"Really? It kind of sounds very a bit far-fetched.." She smiled while looking at her thighs.

"Of course! Who wouldn't love _you_!" she exclaimed.

Lucy grinned in response and looked back outside, she watched the landscape move and couldn't stop smiling idiotically. She was really happy and couldn't wait till the next semester started. She wanted to see him again and just stay beside him.

_"Hope these two months of summer holidays won't take that long" _she thought while smiling to herself.

* * *

Thank you! Gonna update again soon!

PS: It has been edited a bit, but doesn't change the story line much!

Next time:

**Onee-chan is here**


	3. Onee-chan is here

**Chapter 3**

Woah! It's been so long since that last update and I have to say I really sorry! Exams can be stressful! Also thank you for some who reviewed, I love you for that and it also made me realize the mistakes I made, by the way I edited them.

(c) Hiro Mashima, the characters belong to him.

* * *

Unfortunately for Lucy, it was the longest summer she could imagine. Not only did she not have any chance on meeting Natsu, after all the prayers she had every night, but she also barely got to go outside which could explain the first situation. And the times when she'd be at home, she either did her holiday homework or worked on her novel. However, it was hard to staying at the house, since it was too quiet and suffocating for her comfort.

Her only relative in the house who is her father, Jude Heartifilia, was always cramped up in his room only working and hardly even trying to make an effort on starting a conversation. There were times where Lucy did the first step, but her father would only brush her off by saying 'Instead of sitting here and chit-chatting, you could use this time to improve in your studies'. Sometimes Lucy even took the advice, when she was young though, and studied hard but it never satisfied her father. Nowadays she never even gave a damn but still studies for her own interest and boredom. How could you blame her? The only ones she could interact with were the staff in the house, who all had to take care of the mansion for her and her father.

However it never felt like the happiness she felt when her family was like a real family, before her mother died, before her father started to be locked in his room with work and before she started to feel so lonely. That's why she loved going to school so much, away from the mansion and her father. Meeting her friends always replaced the loneliness she felt at home with joy and fun.

It was one day before the school was going to begin and frankly she was bored of staying home. While sitting at her study table she realized that she already finished her school holiday homework a month ago and currently had a writer's block not helping her at all. She looked at her clock, noting that it was still sometime before mid day and sighed. _"Maybe I should meet up with Levy?"_ she asked herself. But refused to since they are going to meet each other at school the next day anyway and decided to just go to a café or a pub to hang out.

She got up from her desk to her cupboard, choosing to wear jeans short pant and a baggie t-shirt saying 'I HEART Magnolia' and started to walk towards the door using the long corridor. While walking she sent a message to Virgo that she was going outside and needed a ride to the city. She advanced to the door leading to the large courtyard but suddenly stopped when she saw her father coming out of his office. She tensed up when he looked at her coldly.

"Going somewhere?" he asked.

"Yes father, just heading out to the city to buy some books and equipments I need for new school year starting tomorrow." She lied, nothing new. She always had to, so that she could get out of the house to have some freedom or to meet Levy.

"If that is so." He looked away and walked off.

She saw Virgo waiting for her outside the car in the courtyard just as asked. When Virgo noticed that Lucy was exiting the mansion, she immediately opened the car door and gestured her inside while Lucy thanked her.

"Just drop me somewhere around the city, I'll be on my way from there on" she informed while hopping onto the seat. Virgo looked back at Lucy from the rearview mirror and stared at her before nodding without a word.

Virgo started the engine and drove the car away from the courtyard. Lucy took her iPod from her bag and plugged the earphones into her ears since she knew it was going to be a long drive and she didn't want to be bored. She listened to a soothing song which made her slowly drift off to sleep.

She had a nice dream about herself, as a child, together with her mother, Layla Heartifillia, and her father having a nice meal at her house. Her father looked much younger while her mother was the way Lucy remembered her as, very beautiful and graceful. They were conversing happily and with so much love that Lucy hadn't felt that feeling in years or a decade. Lucy wasn't sure whether it was a dream or a lost memory since she never felt so nostalgic till then. Whatever it was, she never wanted this to end, never wanted to wake up and just wanted to live in her dream world.

Lucy looked up to her mother who was smiling down at her. Layla patted her head very warmly making her heart flatter.

Her mother then said _'Lucy, I will always love you.' _Lucy wanted to tell her the same thing but instead she laughed brightly to Layla.

'_Lucy'_ her mother said.

_'Lucy'_

"Lucy-hime" Virgo said. Lucy suddenly woke up, realizing it was a dream she covered her face in her hand and sighed. She took a few seconds to calm her pacing heart while Virgo just waited. Lucy then sat upright, taking her earphones off and looked at Virgo.

"Yes, you were calling?"

"Hime, we've reached the city as you asked"

"Yes" Lucy opened the car door; "Thank you, Virgo you can go back to the mansion if you want, this might take a while" she smiled. Virgo nodded and went back to the front seat, and drove off leaving Lucy walk in the streets of the city.

It was the weekend, making the city a bit crowded. As she was walking in the, she looked at the windows of the shops where there many attractive picture displayed, urging Lucy to go in and check it out. There were many things she wanted to buy whenever she entered a shop and she ended up buying two matching mobile keychain for herself and a souvenir for Levy when they go back to school the next day.

She always loved to go to Magnolia, the only city in Fiore that was most of the time very cheerful and happy. It seemed like everyone got along even though sometimes people have fights, they seem like they express their friendship through fists, which Lucy thought was very admirable. Even though it seemed like she knew no one there, she heard that many of the students who go to Fairy Tail High live in the city, occasionally meeting them in the middle of the street. Even though it took a long time to reach Magnolia, it was worth it.

It took a while to reach a proper place which wasn't that crowded but had enough people which indicated that this place wasn't that bad. It seemed like a pub and when she read the menu displayed on the window, she was much more eager to enter the pub. Lucy looked up to the at the logo that said 'Fairy Tail' to which Lucy laughed at because to her it seemed like a total rip off from her school's name. Anyway she wanted to give it a try.

When she entered the pub, she saw many people having the time of their life but didn't expect a middle school boy to be there. She wanted to take him somewhere else but when she realized he wasn't having any alcohol, Lucy didn't concern herself with him and went to find a vacant table. It was a very nice atmosphere in that place, everybody laughing and having fun together which made Lucy also feel nice.

When she finally found a free spot next the counter, she sat down and waited for the waiter to arrive. A woman with long white hair approached her that made Lucy stare in awe. She had never seen such a beautiful woman in her life time and was sure that she had noticed her in the recent magazine. She stared at her for a while speechlessly.

"Miss, your order?" she asked.

"Are you _the_ Mirajane Straus?" she ignored her question and blurted out.

"Ah" she smiled "Have we met before?"

"Oh no! It's just that I've seen you in my school before and practically everyone knew you there! And I've seen you on magazines too!"

"Then you also went to Fairy Tail High?"

"I went to middle school there, so I'm going to automatically be a freshman when the new year starts next year"

"Really?" Lucy nodded "My younger sister is then in the same year as you are! If you never met her at school, I'd love to introduce her to you"

"I'm looking forward on meeting her." Lucy said making an end to the conversation. They became silent for a while, both sides still comfortable. Mirajane suddenly gasped.

"Oh dear, I'd love to chat on but I have to continue my work. Anyways, your order?" she asked.

"I'd just like to have one cold coffee, thank you"

"Coming right up!" she smiled brightly and walked away. After a while, Lucy was going to plug in her ear phones, hopefully not drifting off again, when the woman in the next table suddenly smashed her beer glass on the table and smirked at her direction.

"So you are going to attend Fairy Tail High?" she spoke up making it obvious that she eavesdropped their conversation.

"Ahem, and you are?" Lucy asked the brown haired woman. She asked because she was suspicions of the woman who was only wearing a bikini top and knee height pants on, and she was hoping not to converse with some pervert going around like that.

"Woah! Someone's got a tight ass right there!" she exclaimed with her hands held high while laughing hysterically and Lucy lifted one of her eye brows up in response. She casually joined Lucy in her table and sat opposite to her.

"Cana Alberona, junior year in Fairy Tail High from tomorrow onward. Pleased to meet you" she brought out her hand, and Lucy cautiously shook her hand. Lucy then recognized her; she was very famous for drinking a lot but never getting actually drunk. She was also known to be the daughter of the Gildarts Clive, the teacher who is laid back but can be scary when needed. Lucy heard a lot of stories about her from Levy, since they were childhood friends, and then relaxed because there was nothing to be so uptight about.

"Lucy Heartifillia, pleased to meet you. I'm sure you know about Levy right? Yeah, she's my best friend" Lucy gave a friendly smile.

"Ah, that little Levy! Haven't heard from her since summer holidays started, how she doing?" she looked down to her mug, realizing it was still empty. "Wait a second" she looked at her and turned back to the counter "Mira, I need another glass!" she ordered and Mirajane nodded.

"Wait a second" she looked back at her and said "You are Lucy? Lucy Heartifillia, the one crazy enough to ask out that dense idiot Natsu ?" she exclaimed.

Lucy was horrified for a second and asked herself how she would have known, and then realized that Levy or Natsu, who was less likely to, could have blurted out some things. Embarrassed Lucy nodded and Cana burst out laughing. She couldn't do anything but just to sit there and wait till her laughter calms down.

"Your order" Mirajane said while placing the beer glass and the cold coffee on the table and then looked at the laughing Cana. She looked back at Lucy and said "What's so funny to make her like that?"

Instead of Lucy, Cana said in her laughter while pointing at the blond girl "She's Lucy Heartifillia" which seemed to be enough for Mirajane's question. _"Does everyone know about that?!"_ she screamed internally.

"Ah!" She said and smiled while clapping her hands together "So finally a girl for Natsu!"

"W-Wait no! I asked him but he rejected me without even knowing!" Lucy explained making Cana laugh even louder while slamming her hands on the table.

"Sh-she said she got rejected without him even knowing!" she burst out again. Unlike Cana, Mira just giggle and looked at Lucy softly.

"It'll alright. He just doesn't understand it yet" she said encouragingly, cheering Lucy a bit up and left to her work. Lucy smiled as she left, returned to still laughing Cana and returned to her embarrassed mood.

"Okay, enough. I get it, it's funny. You can stop now" Lucy murmured shamefully.

"Oh, no, no. My stomach is starting ache!" she cried out with laughing. Lucy waited patiently till she could calm down.

"Phew! That was a laugh!" she said while giving out some laughs and wiping her tears away.

"Damn that Levy!" Lucy murmured under her breath.

It seemed that didn't go unnoticed by Cana and said "It's alright your little friend didn't blurt out anything! I just squeezed it out of her" she winked. Lucy was taken aback and though "Man, this one is scary." She was thankful that Levy at least tried.

"Anyways" she looked at Lucy and then looked over her shoulders "Hey Natsu!" she screamed making a boy with pink hair pop out of the table with many teenagers. Lucy felt her heart jump when she saw him because "It's been so long!". It's been so long since she last saw him or even heard him. When she saw him looking at her direction, well when he's actually looking at Cana, she couldn't help but feel excited.

"What do you need, you drunk!?" he screamed back.

"I would like you to meet someone!" she laughed out, startling Lucy. Cana looked back a Lucy and said "Since you gave me a good laugh, I'm willing to give you a nice present". She looked at Cana, shocked. She wasn't ready to meet him yet! She didn't have the proper clothes! Her hair! She didn't put perfume! Wait! What if she is stinking? When Cana saw Lucy fidget around, she giggled a bit.

"No need to worry Lucy" she winked making Lucy even more nervous. She drank up the beer, pumped it on the table and smiled.

"You've got onee-chan here!"

* * *

Hope you enjoyed it! Yeah the first few paragraphs I wanted to show the relationship Lucy has with her family and yeah. Yeah I know Lucy is pretty young for pubs in US standards but in Europe 16 is the legal age for drinking, even though Lucy isn't. This was the only way I could make her meet Cana and Mirajane! I really love the friendship the two have with Lucy. Also I wanted something like the guild where the characters could meet up so there you have the pub!

And thank you for reading, please leave a review.

Next Time:

**Come Back Anytime**


	4. Come Back Anytime

**Chapter 4**

(c) Hiro Mashima. All the characters belong to him.

* * *

Lucy was never the type of person who would get nervous so easily. Not when she had to talk in front of her schoolmates for being the top ranker in her middle school nor did she get nervous when she published her first ever draft from her book (even though it never ended up going that well). Even when she had to confess her feeling, she wasn't as nervous as she was at the moment. _"Then why now?"_ she asked herself. Of course she knew the answer; it was because she was prepared last time!

But this time, it was two whole months since she last saw him, two months since she confessed her feelings (which he was totally oblivious about) and now for him to pop out of nowhere in the middle of a bar which she coincidently entered for no reason, was too much of a surprise. She even believed in stuff like fate and destiny, but this was too much for her heart to handle!

Her heart was running wild when she saw the pink-correction-salmon hair stand out of the crowd when Natsu replied to the girl sitting across her. She could barely catch any word that came out of those lips because she was too busy staring at the figure she couldn't see for months, the only thing she could hear was "you drunk". She looked back at the so called Cana, and thought _"He right, she did have at least 5 drinks while she talked to me" _and then returned her focus on Natsu.

As she watched Natsu stand up from his seat and approach the two girls, she could practically hear her heart beating in her ears. He was still wearing that white scaled scarf but was not in his uniform as she remembered him wearing the last time they met. _"Well, of course he wouldn't! School doesn't start till tomorrow"_ she scolded herself. He was wearing a black t-shirt which had "Bad Boy" written across it and a pair of knee high pants. Even though it was borderline casual, Natsu in Lucy's eyes couldn't be any more attractive.

His hair still as ruffled up as she last saw them and his bangs still pointing upwards. As she saw him laugh back at his friends while leaving his seat, it made her heart run even fast, making Lucy start to worry if something might be medically wrong with her organ. Aside from that, when he was close enough for Lucy to see his onyx eyes she couldn't be any happier. Those eyes were the things she missed the most about him, the way they could give you so much strength and fulfillment. She dreamt about how those eyes could look back at hers with love and happiness she felt for him, but dreams will always stay as dreams.

When Lucy heard the clicking sound in front of her, she snapped out of it and rubbed away the droll she didn't notice she had. She looked back at the source of the clicking sound and saw Cana smirking at her direction.

"So there are people who can even drool over someone like Natsu huh?" she stated.

"I wasn't drooling" Lucy muttered unconvincingly.

"Yeah, and I didn't start drinking at the age of 11" Lucy shot up to Cana in disbelief _"11!?"._She was shocked. Lucy couldn't understand why someone would start at that age, she only had one sip of wine under the supervision of her father when they visited the wine garden but this and that wasn't the same thing. Lucy was so occupied by the thought of young Cana drinking that she didn't even notice Natsu approaching them.

"Ya need something?" he asked Cana. Lucy silently watched her cold coffee in interest because she knew if she looked at Natsu for a second, she wouldn't be able to control herself.

"Oh yeah," Cana looked at Lucy "I'd like you to meet my new friend here" she smiled.

"H-hey, we meet again." Lucy waved comically. _"Dammit Lucy! You are embarrassing yourself!"_

"Hey! I remember you! You are called something with Luu" he tried.

Lucy waited hoping.

"Luc, ah! I remember!" he exclaimed wide eyed making Lucy want to dance _"He remembered my name!"_

"Its Luigi right?!" he jumped making Lucy want to drop on the ground and Cana burst out laughing, again.

"Oh-haha- oh my god!" Cana laughed tearfully while looking at the victim sitting opposite to her "why-haha- are you making my stomahaha—stomach hurt so much!" she tried to say in the middle of her laugh.

"What's up with her?" he asked Lucy while pointing at Cana.

"Please ignore her" she sighed and looked at Natsu disappointedly "I tell you again. Its not Luigi, like Mario's brother. It is Lucy. Lucy Heartifillia." She explained getting a nod from Natsu.

"But I am surprised you still remember me" Lucy laughed lightly.

"Of course! I mean not every day does a girl come up to me and suddenly asks me to go out with her even though we were outside" he said making Cana fall off her chair and laugh even louder while grabbing on to her stomach. This didn't make Lucy feel any better.

"He's such an idiot!" she exclaimed.

"I feel like I'm being insulted" he said plainly while looking at Cana.

"Yup, even though I just met her, I feel like this is her thing" she let out a laugh while looking at Cana, forgetting she herself is the source of her ending up on the ground.

"I've known her for years and you already figured her out" he laughed back.

"Of course she has" said a voice "because unlike you she's not a dense bastard"

"At least I'm not a fucking stripper" Natsu replied as soon as he saw Gray coming to their direction. He came with a smug expression but changed when he heard Natsu's remark.

"Ah, fuck you" he said casually and sat at the table next to Cana and opposite to Lucy. He looked down at Cana who was _still_ on the floor puffing, trying to bring back her breath. He raised his eyebrow at her then deciding on ignoring her and looked at the blond girl opposite to him.

"Wait aren't you that girl who got Natsu out of trouble with Erza?" he asked to which Lucy couldn't help but praise him for his memory.

"Ha, yeah isn't that cool, did I ever thank you for that?" Natsu exclaimed

"Because of that I had to not only get beat up by that demon but also stay afterschool for writing an apology letter dammit!" he complained

"That makes it even better!"

"I am sorry?" Lucy hesitated, not sure if she really was the one to blame yet felt a hint of guilt.

"Nah, don't be. The one who should apologize should be the loser standing next to you" he nodded to Natsu's direction and received a glare from him.

"Anyways I didn't catch your name yet." He smiled

"Ah, she's Lucy" said Cana who finally calmed down and sat on her seat.

"I feel like I heard that name"

"Yeah, I told you. She's the girl who asked out the densest person in this pub. She's_ the_ Lucy Heartifillia" she said, making it obvious for the three of them who it was. Lucy felt the blood go up to her cheeks and a bit uncomfortable. Talking about her love life right when her one-sided love was right next to her made her feel awkward, even if she knew Natsu wouldn't understand what they were talking about. What made it even more embarrassing was that she was known for asking out Natsu.

"You're Lucy huh?" Gray repeated as he examined her for head to toe. "The world must be coming to an end"

"I agree" Cana said

"What do ya mean?" Natsu finally asked.

"Why in god's name is a girl like you chasing after a moron like him?" he let out a laugh as he pointed at Natsu.

"Thats it! Wanna go you fucking ice freak?" Natsu burst.

"Your lame ass fists won't hurt me!" he shouted as he stood up and pushed his head against his. While the two threw insults at each other, Lucy was freaking out. She thought that the two of them were strong, which meant bad news and could hurt unrelated people.

"S-so Gray is it?" she finally called out trying to change the flow making Gray stop.

"Ah yeah! I haven't introduced myself" he said "I'm Gray Fullbuster from Fairy Tail Academy. I'm gonna be a freshman in high school starting tomorrow" he smiled

"Nice to meet you"

"Anyways, why the hell are you here?" Natsu said in an annoyed manner.

"I'm here to ask Cana a favour"

"You want something?" she said after she gulped down her booze.

"I'm gonna have a party soon, I need someone to get the alcohol" he said

"What am I going to get out of it?" she slurred, indicating that she is obviously getting drunk.

"An awesome party" he said proudly, receiving an unimpressed look from Cana. "Ok, I'll buy you anything besides booze. I aint old enough to buy that shit in the first place, that's why I wanted to ask you." Gray explained.

"Ok, I'll accept that"

"Nice" he said and started to leave. He then stopped and looked back at Lucy "You can come too, the more the better the party will be" he said and left.

Suddenly Lucy realized the sun was setting soon and looked at her watch. It was a few hours before her time for her dinner but she knew she had to leave since it was a long drive. She texted Virgo 'Can you pick me up now?' when she instantly got a reply, looked up to Natsu and Cana.

"I'm sorry, I have to leave soon" she said and got up.

"Why now? I was thinking of introducing you to some of my friends at that table" Natsu said grimly

"My house isn't that close" she explained while feeling sad.

"Why doesn't Natsu accompany her then? It can be dangerous for a girl to go home alone at this time" Cana smirked to which Lucy blushed. She knew she was trying to help but it can really catch her off guard at times.

"I'll be just fine. My friend is picking me up anyways" she said as she got out the money to pay for her beverage. "I will see you guys at school?"

"Of course!" Natsu grinned making Lucy want to stay close to him a bit more but knew her father wouldn't leave her alone if she did.

"And Lucy?" Cana called out while she saw Lucy leave.

"Yeah?"

"Come here anytime you want. Me, Natsu and all our friends are always hanging out here. I wanna hang out with out again!" she grinned.

"Me too" Natsu added.

"Sure" Lucy grinned back and started to leave.

As she was walking to where Virgo was waiting for her, she couldn't stop feeling happy. She felt like she finally a part of something. When she finally noticed Virgo, she strolled over to her direction and got into the car.

"Had a nice time?" she asked while starting the engine.

"Yes!"

"You seemed to be very excited, Hime"

"I just can't wait for tomorrow to come" when she could meet him and her friends again. But most importantly, it was the beginning of another year in Fairy Tail Academy, in high school.

* * *

Author's note : I am so sorry for such a late update! It's been so long! I just couldn't think of anything but just wanted to make another chapter for the story to move on.

Finally, Gray is in the spot light! I just wanted to have the usual querrel between pink hair dude and Gray, I love the insults they give each other.

I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Next time:

**Together?**


	5. Together?

**Chapter 5**

Alright! It's been a while hasn't it? Been having an artist block for quite a while now.. But I think you guys already know that I don't update that frequently either. I hope you like this chapter!

(c) Hiro Mashima

* * *

"I will be at the gate when your school ends, hime"

"Okay! I'll see you then" Lucy cheerfully waved Virgo goodbye and turned towards her school.

Lucy looked at the school building and couldn't help feeling excited! Even though it was like any other beginning of the school year, for some reason she took pride in walking into the high school block instead of middle school. _"Ah high school! Here I come"_ she thought as walked toward the entrance of the school.

"Lu-chan! Good morning!" Lucy saw her friend approach her.

"Good Morning! Levy!"

They chatted for a while about various things such as how their summer was, weather they went anywhere and etc. Lucy even told her friend how she met up with Natsu and many of Levy's old friends to which the little girl took pride on her childhood friends. They talked about the people Lucy met during her time in the 'Fairy Tail' bar and before they even realized they reached the bulletin board, where they could find out which class they've been allotted to.

"Lucy ~ I really hope we end up in the same class, unlike last year!" Levy complained while holding on to her hand tightly. She had her eyes shut which Lucy could perfectly comprehend since she also didn't want to end up in a separate class from her dear friend. This reminded her how they could only meet during their lunch breaks or after school, which would've been enough but she still felt lonely without her in class.

"Me too! But for some reason I have a really good feeling about this year" she huffed confidently "And I'm really sure the two of us will be fine! Because for you information, I have really good luck! So if you stick with me, you'll be just alright!" She winked at Levy expecting that this would've made her less nervous but instead got a blank look.

"You said that last year too." She delivered bluntly, making Lucy feel embarrassed of even trying to motivate her.

"Whatever" Lucy looked away trying to hide her red face and heard her friend giggle. Regaining her composure she walked towards the crowd of students gathering in front of the board, searching which class they were going to be attending for the next school year.

"You stay here" she told Levy.

"Why?"

"Because I'm pretty sure you will get lost. That's what happened last year." Lucy said factually and saw Levy about to say something but kept her mouth shut eventually.

When she reached the crowd, as soon as she saw how her schoolmates were pushing each other she knew this wouldn't be easy to reach to the front and actually look at her class list. With lots of effort, Lucy pushed and squeezed herself through the crowd and finally approached the in front of the bulletin board.

She peered at the board looking for her name, even though it was hard for her because everyone around her were pushing each other. She let out a gasp when she noticed her name under the class of 1-C. She looked at all then names, searching for the name 'Levy McGarden' and luckily found her name! She turned back trying to get back to her friend since she couldn't wait to tell her the exciting news. She pushed herself back, when she saw her friend's face she began to run beginning to wonder how she would react to what she had to tell her. However before she could even call out her name she felt herself collide with another person.

"Ow" Lucy winced "Hey! What's the big dea-" she stopped as soon as she identified the person who she knocked into.

"Ow! What the hell?" he said and when the boy looked up grinned "Oh, hey Luigi!" and reached out his hand to help her stand up.

"Natsu" she said gleefully, too happy to realize him calling her 'Luigi' again.

"You checking the class list too?" he asked.

"No" she said, without trying to be too excited "Just saw mine. Heading to class soon" she smiled.

"Well then! I gotta look at mine. I'll see you around then!" waved as he ran away, before Lucy could even say anything.

She looked at him go, probably regretting the fact that she couldn't talk to him much longer. '_Damn it!'_ she cursed to herself_ 'Finally when I can talk to him.'_ However she didn't ponder over it too long, knowing that Levy was still waiting for her.

She turned to the direction where she left Levy and saw her still waiting in the same position. Lucy waved at her, showing that she's back, yet didn't get any response. She went closer to her and then saw a huge guy with black hair who seemed to have an argument with her. She tried to identify which grade he would be in, which you can guess by looking at the colour of the school's tie but didn't find him wearing one.

She walked to her friend at a quicker pace thinking that she was in some sort of trouble. When she reached Levy, Lucygrabbed her hand, pulled the girl behind herself and stood in front of her in a protective stance.

"Hey! You want something from Levy?" Lucy asked sternly.

"Eh?" he exclaimed.

"Lu-chan!"

"Is there something stuck in your ears or did I not say it clear enough? I asked if you want something from Levy." She repeated. However got a bit frightened when, what it seems, his aura became darker and threatening. Not only that, but the impression of the tall guy, towering her, wasn't the best one either. He had long black hair and lots of piercings, and when he smiled wickedly, he seemed like a wild animal. Normally she wasn't a person who judged someone by their appearance, but when it came to her cute friend, she couldn't help but be cautious of the people who approach her. Even though she knew Levy could her ground without any of her help.

"Gihi!" he snickered "What a feisty friend you got there, shrimp"

"Gajeel! Stop calling me that!" Levy complained in return.

"Gajeel?" Lucy repeated and suddenly she remembered where she heard that name before. Whenever Lucy and Levy used to meet up during short or lunch breaks, when they were still in separate classrooms, the name 'Gajeel' didn't come up that uncommonly out of Levy's mouth. She would complain about him but Lucy always could find that tint of red blush on her cheeks when she spoke about him.

"Yes, Lucy this is Gajeel , he was my classmate last year. And Gajeel this is Lucy." She introduced us.

"Yeah I've heard about you from shrimp." He muttered.

"Can't say I haven't heard about either." She added.

"Oh really now? Any input on that, pipsqueak?" he teased when he turned to Levy.

"A-anyways!" she coughed "Lucy and I have to go to our class! And you do too!" she said as she grabbed Lucy's hand hard. And turned away from him and walked away while dragging Lucy behind her. Lucy followed her for a while and when she couldn't see any sight of Gajeel anymore, she stopped Levy.

"Levy.." she spoke

"Yes?" she replied, oblivious to something very obvious.

"Do you even know which class we are in?" said Lucy which made her friend flinch. She turned her head back to face Lucy and blushed in embarrassment.

"I just didn't say anything before because I think you wouldn't have like it if I did that in front of that certain someone" She continued to which Levy's face became even a darker shade of red since she exactly knew who this 'someone' Lucy was talking about.

"No.." she said "Which class are we in?" she finally asked.

"I am in 1-C" she smiled.

"Are we in the same class?"

"Yes" she replied and at that moment both of them jumped in excitement.

"Holy shit! It's going to be so much fun together!" she exclaimed.

"Yes!"

* * *

Well there you go! Chapter 5! I don't know if I told anyone but I'm planning on taking the story slowly while still making other pairings. I was always thinking of a way to introduce Gajeel into the story...well anyway, here you go! Gotta say GaLe isn't that bad to write. And I hope you enjoyed reading this as much I did while writing this.

PS: Hope you don't mind the short chapter. It's the shortest one so far..

Next Time:

**Why don't you come too?**


	6. Why don't you come too?

**Chapter 6**

Yo Guys! I'm BACK! Haha enjoy the chapter!

(c) Hiro Mashima! All characters belong to him.

* * *

**Why don't you come too?**

When Lucy and Levy reached the door of their classroom, they saw Jet and Droy wait in front of them. These two guys were friends with Levy since childhood and they always were together since then. It was obvious to everybody's eyes that these both looked at Levy with feeling more than friendship, though Levy never seemed to reciprocate those feeling back. During middle school, Levy together with Jet and Droy approached Lucy and encouraged Lucy to pursue her love for writing books. Though Lucy wasn't as close them as she was to Levy, but she always thought of them as very dear friends.

And now they both stood before them with a very serious face.

"Hey guys! You are in this classroom too?" Levy asked in excitement. And as soon as she spoke those words, their expression changed from serious to a very depressing faces. Lucy could almost see some tears in their eyes. _'Whoa, this is the first time seeing a guy cry'_ she thought.

"LEEEEEEEVVVVVVYYYY!" they both cried shocking the girl they were calling for.

"G-guys? What happened?" she asked hesitantly while approaching them and trying to make them stop. She put their hands on their shoulders and watched them cry in concern. After Levy waiting patiently for a minute or two, they finally seemed to calm down.

"Okay, now tell me what happened?" she asked again.

"We" Droy sniffled.

"We aren't in the same class" Jet mumbled.

"Guys!" Levy politely smiled "being in different classes doesn't mean that we'll never see each other again! I told you the same thing in middle school and during that time, did we ever separate?"

"No..." they said while slowly shaking their heads.

"Then I'm sure that it won't happen this year either!" she assured them.

"And nothing is stopping you from visiting our classroom or hanging out during breaks either!" Lucy added. Even though Lucy wasn't that close to them, she never minded their company, in fact she even enjoyed it.

"Yeah, I guess" Droy murmured.

Levy noticed the unenthusiastic response and said "Us members of Shadow Gear will never separate! Remember?"

"Yeah!" Jet smiled back and Droy laughed. It seemed that they had to go to class soon so they waved painful goodbye and walked away.

Lucy then turned to her friend "Shadow Gear?" she asked while raising her eyebrows in question.

"Yeah" Levy laughed "It's something the three of us formed when we were kids. Weird, right?"

"No. It is really sweet how close you guys are" she said. Levy smiled with a tiny blush.

"Gosh Lucy! You are embarrassing me!" the blue haired girl complained. As they continued their conversation, they entered the class.

"I hope there are people who we know" she said.

"Yeah me too" Lucy responded while scanning over the class. She noticed that there were many people who she knew from before in the class. She smiled at the fact that there were some who she knew! There was Bisca, the green haired girl she knew from her middle school who used to always take her to the arcade mainly to play shooting games even though Lucy always lost against her; then next to Bisca was her not-boyfriend-but-just-a-friend named Alzach, who always had his one eye covered with his brown hair and also had an interest in shooting games or anything related, it seemed like he had feelings for her for a long time and so did Bisca for him but they never did anything; Lucy also saw a Juvia with long blue hair staring at Gray the whole time; Then there was Gray talking to a guy with spiky brown hair , sitting in the front row was Arise who she knew from her outside classes, Gejeel having some sort of fight with Natsu, Kinana who s-

"Wait a second!" she said quietly while looking at the teenager "Natsu?!" She couldn't believe it!

"You can't believe it right?" Levy spoke as if she knew exactly what she was thinking about but Lucy didn't really give Levy's mind reading skills much concern, instead couldn't stop herself from jumping in the spot. "_THIS IS MY CHANCE!" _she thought. Maybe god did love her enough to give her such an opportunity! Lucy literary clapped her hands together and thanked god for her gracious gift.

Lucy's thoughts –excitement- stopped as soon as she heard the bell ring. She looked around and saw Levy go between the rows looking for her assigned seat which she found in front of Gajeel. Lucy then started to look for her seat, '_I hope I get along with my neighbours' _she smiled looking past all name cards on the empty desks. When she found her the desk with her name card, she looked to her right and saw Gray's name card on the empty desk next to her. She was happy that he was next to her, he seemed like a nice person.

She sat down in her and waited for the teacher to come and her classmates to settle down. She saw Gray approach her and saw him smile.

"Hey! We meet again" he smirked

"What a small world" she smiled back.

"Gray-sama" said the blue haired girl sitting on the other side of Gray "Juvia is so happy that she can sit next to Gray-sama" she said full of excitement. "_So her name is Juvia huh?" _Lucy kept in mind.

"Hey Juvia, you joined here too?" he asked

As they continued their conversation, Lucy's attention was averted to the certain pink haired person. She watched him still arguing with Gajeel, glaring at him as if challenging him. She then examined his uniform, he wore white shirt with starting two buttons unbuttoned revealing some bit of skin which Lucy couldn't help but feel thankful for and he wore the compulsory school gray pants. '_It suits him'_ she thought while watching him in detail.

It seemed that Natsu had finished his conversation with the black haired person and was heading to his assigned seat. '_I wonder where he is sitting'. _She watched him come in her row and was walking towards her, '_wait a second! Is he coming this way?'_Lucy tried to calm down as she saw him approaching closer and closer, she had to get herself together!

"So Lucy" Gray interrupted her nervous attempts "who is sitting on the other side?" he asked receiving a uncertain look.

"I don't –"

"It's me, you stripper" said a voice. Lucy spun her head to her left and saw the person she was getting all fidgety about. It was Natsu sitting down at his desk.

"Ah, not this fucker" Gray sighed to himself.

"Ehhhh? It not like I want to be around a person who strips everywhere he goes!" Natsu hissed

"HEY! You know I can't help it!" Gray hissed back, not denying though. It seemed like the two were going to start fighting but Natsu stopped as soon as he saw Lucy watch their argument.

"Lucy!" he grinned "You are here too!".

"Hey, yeah, I've been here the whole time" she smiled nervously. _Calm down!_

"Oh?"

"Yeah, she's been here the whole time! No wonder you didn't notice her being such a dense mother fucker" Gray said making Natsu stand up from his seat.

"WHAT DID YO-"

"Okay class" said the person entering the room suddenly. He walked at the front of the room, picked up the marker and started to write the words 'Mr Gildarts Clive' in big sizes on the white board. He turned back to the class and walked to the teacher's desk.

"As you see, my name is Gildarts Clive and I'm going to be your form teacher for this year I guess" he said.

"Awesome" Lucy heard Natsu whisper.

"What?" she asked out of curiosity. At the same time she could still feel her heart racing in her ears, she guessed it was because of the guy beside her.

"Don't you see?" he whispered excitedly "It is Gildarts!"

"Gildarts?"

"Yeah! He is like really cool and very strong" he grinned. _'Does that have anything to do teaching?' s_he asked quietly. "I once fought him in middle school" he continued as he watched Gildarts in admiration "but I lost as soon as the fight started, I hope to become as strong as him!"

"You have to work hard for that" Lucy encouraged.

"Of course!" he grinned. Lucy giggled back at him and then turned back to the direction where the teacher was. She then noticed the strange silence around her, looking around the class she saw that everyone was staring at her and for some reason Gray was shirtless. _'That isn't the problem right now' _she told herself and realized that Gildarts was watching her and Natsu, as if waiting for something.

"What?" Natsu finally asked casually.

"You two love-birds just cannot leave each other alone can you?" Gildarts smirked to which the class started to giggle and whisper. Lucy couldn't help but blush, it was embarrassing yet somehow she had this good feeling that they were seen that way. She tried to maintain her calm but she was sure that everyone could see her ears turn red, even Natsu who thought that 'going out' meant to go outdoors.

"Huuhh?" Natsu spoke with his usual oblivious manner.

"For interrupting my awesome introduction" the teacher grinned "the three of you will go and get all the books and papers and also maybe my chocolate too" he said as he leaned down on to his chair, put up his legs on the desk and covered his face with the student attendance book as if he was planning to go to sleep.

"Three?" Bisca asked from the back of the room.

"Yeah" he confirmed under the book "Natsu, the pretty lady next to him and Gray"

"What? Why me?! I didn't do shit" Gray declared.

"Well then tell me this, why are you almost naked?" Gildarts sighed

"What do you mea-?" he stopped his tracks as soon as he realized he miraculously undressed himself without even noticing while he clicked his tongue as he heard Natsu snicker in the background "Wha- When did I even?!" he exclaimed and started to look for his shirt while Lucy saw how Juvia almost undressing him even more with her eyes and had a one long drip of blood from her nose.

"Just go" the teacher finally said.

"No! I'm not doing it just because you are so lazy!" Natsu countered.

"Okay Natsu" Gildarts spoke as he removed the book from his face "if you do this errand, I will accept another challenge to fight with you"

"REALLY?" Natsu shouted. Lucy heard the whole class gasp in shock, it seemed like everyone knew this teacher except her. _'Is he that strong?'_

"Sure! Gray, you wanna go too?"

"N-no thank you. I can see from your fights just how strong you exactly you are" Gray retreated. _'Why does everybody want to fight?' _Lucy asked herself.

"I promise, I will defeat you this time! I was just a kid last time! I became stronger" Natsu declared as he stood from his chair and walked towards the classroom door.

"The last time you fought him was just 2 months ago" Alzach said to which everybody sweat dropped. Lucy realized that she had also had to leave to do the errands so she stood up from her chair and walked to the door.

"Blondie" said the teacher "What is your name?" he asked while opening up the attendance book.

"Lucy Heartifillia"

"Nice to meet you Lucy" Gildarts looked up from the book and grinned at her to which Lucy responded with a smile. She walked out the room and saw Gray and Natsu walk in front of her.

"So Lucy" Gray voiced "you coming to the party too?"

"Huh?" Lucy responded confused.

"Yeah! I think I asked you..." Lucy tried to remember what he was talking about, she only met him in the Fairy Tail pub. Now that she thought of it...

"Oh yeah! I think you did" Lucy exclaimed

"Yeah we are going to have a blast! My parties are the best" he bragged "Ask Natsu if you want." Lucy turned her head to the salmon haired fellow next to her.

"Yeah, I guess..." he mumbled. Lucy giggled in response _'It seems like he didn't want to praise Gray too much'. _

"Look! So why don't you come too?" Gray smiled.

* * *

I know! What you are about to say! Crappy ending right? Well, I couldn't help it! But I still hope you enjoyed it. It doesn't feel much of a romantic-high school story right? Well I guess so! Right now I just want Lucy to enjoy and meet everybody (I'm sure you know who all she'll meet in the future but don't know when or how... . . ...WHAHAHAHHAHAHhahaha *cough**cough* ahem)

Sorry I didn't update for a long time! Please do forgive me cause I think this will happen in the future as well...but I hope you stick with me and this story because I have many plans! So please do leave reviews and thoughts about this chapter. Maybe even give me some inspiration or ideas on how I could continue with this story.

Swagger OUT!

Next time:

**Had fun?**


End file.
